POLITICS: East Asia Summit, Another Talk Shop?

By Baradan Kuppusamy Reprint | | Print |

Baradan Kuppusamy

KUALA LUMPUR , Dec 15 2005 (IPS) - The United States, for once, was looking in from the cold, as 16 nations-the 10-member ASEAN, six regional powers plus Russia as observer-held the inaugural East Asia Summit on Wednesday.

Summit leaders billed the three hour affair as the dawn of a new era but critics, pointing to the sheer diversity among member states, say it will end up as yet another talk shop.

The grouping brought in China, South Korea and Japan and also India, Australia and New Zealand. It combines countries whose economies tote up a gross domestic product of 8.3 trillion US dollars and account for a fifth of global trade.

”The East Asia Summit was a great and unqualified success,” said summit host and Prime Minister of Malaysia Abdullah Badawi. ”Let me repeat it, the summit was a great success.”

”There was a high degree of acceptance that we are one community with a common interest in peace, stability and prosperity,” he said.

But exactly what this community is, where it is heading and whether it can involve such a vast and diverse region that encompasses two of the world’s largest populations- in China and India – are questions lingering at the end of the summit.

Significantly, it came almost as an adjunct to 11th summit of the ASEAN that ended on Tuesday. The more compact and cohesive ASEAN groups Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Brunei, the Philippines and Indonesia.

The half-day EAS saw national agendas of smaller nations like Malaysia and Vietnam clashing with emerging powers like China and India and an effort by established powers Japan, South Korea and Australia to speak up for the absent U.S., to contain China.

A week ago, former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad – who had first mooted the East Asia idea in 1991- poured cold water over the summit saying the inclusion of Australia and New Zealand was geographically improper and they were, in reality not Asian. However, he had no objection to Russia participating.

The U.S. declined to join because of a reluctance to sign a treaty of amity and friendship, renouncing the use of force in the region. Russia and Australia signed the treaty and got invitations.

The summit proper saw Japan and China continue their spat over unresolved World War Two differences. China and South Korea cancelled their traditional bilateral meetings with Japan on the sidelines of ASEAN summit showing that deep differences continue behind the public smiles.

The participation of Australia, regarded as ‘America’s sheriff’ for its role in Iraq and participation in the ‘war on terrorism’ , came in for criticism. Despite such initial misgivings, most analysts and summit watchers say, the summit took off on a good footing.

”The very fact that all the invited leaders attended and that they discussed and agreed to some things is itself a success,” political scientist Murugesu Pathmanaban told IPS. ”It is the first step to major things in future given time.”

”We have established the East Asia Summit as a forum for dialogue on broad strategic, political and economic issues of common interest and concern with the aim of promoting peace, stability and economic prosperity in East Asia,” said a final declaration the leaders signed at the summit.

They will meet annually on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit and definitely at the next in December 2006, in the Philippines.

Proponents of the grouping want foundations laid for an economic and political alliance that one day might rival those of North America and Europe-not an unrealistic goal, given that by 2050, three of the world’s four largest economies will be Asian.

But the sheer diversity and vastness of the region, analysts say, works against such a notion.

Size is a great divide. China’s 1.3billion people dwarfs Singapore’s four million. Or compare the tiny monarchy of Brunei, with 350,000 people with India, the world’s largest democracy with its one billion people.

Another divide is wealth. Japan’s gross national income (GNI) per capita of 37,000 US dollars that makes peanuts of Cambodia’s 320 dollars. Japan or India’s democracy contrasts starkly with Myanmar’s human rights abuses. Indonesia’s millions live on less then a dollar a day that sharply contrasts with the wealth of people in Malaysia, Singapore or Japan.

Culturally, East Asia is a patchwork of religions, value systems and political ideologies. But there are common interests too.

The inaugural summit put in place a new and loose structure to boost East Asian cooperation in trade and security i.e piracy and combating terrorism, bird flu, lowering trade barriers and ensuring energy security.

Leaders recognised that their countries are at varying stages of development, and that national interests will come into play. ”The challenge is to shape the emerging forum to serve the long-term interests of those involved,” said Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

”You don’t always get spectacular fireworks, big decisions and major changes in policy. But step by step, each time you meet, you are cultivating ground, keeping it fertile, maintaining the relationships and dealing with problems before they arise, before they become serious,” he told reporters after the summit.

To ensure the smaller nations of ASEAN get the best out of the East Asia Summit, it was agreed that ASEAN will be in the driver’s seat despite the participation of powerhouses like China and India and even Russia.

”The declaration symbolises that cooperation in East Asia has entered a new stage,” China’s Premier Wen Jiabao said.

The leaders also said in their declaration that the new grouping would be an ”open, inclusive, transparent and outward-looking forum” and not dominated by any one power.

”The new grouping will have a major say in shaping Asia’s engagement with itself and rest of the world,” a senior diplomat from Thailand said. ”It is not another talk shop,” he hastened to add.

Analysts say whatever ASEAN may do to remain in the East Asian driver’s seat, it is inevitable that big power influence will come into play. ”China, Japan and India increasingly cast large foot prints across the region and eventually across the world,” said an observer.

Japan is keen to ensure that China does not dominate the emerging East Asian community. Russia, rising star once again after years of turmoil, is knocking on East Asia’s doors demanding a front row seat. India is pushing for a wider role in the Asian economic community. Indonesia, with a population of 200 million, is a brooding giant, sidelined at the summit but with the potential to be a mini-power if it gets its domestic act together.

”We have all agreed that the East Asian community will be a reality in the future,” said Abdullah. To criticism that it is just another talk shop, he said: ”Leaders have a common interest and understanding-we have to develop on it.”